Debra L. Dodson
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780198296744
- eISBN:
- 9780191603709
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198296746.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
When the 1994 elections gave control of Congress to a conservative, Christian Coalition-dominated, Republican majority, what some had over-optimistically touted as a critical mass of women became a ...
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When the 1994 elections gave control of Congress to a conservative, Christian Coalition-dominated, Republican majority, what some had over-optimistically touted as a critical mass of women became a token group, notwithstanding a slight increase in numbers. Nowhere was that more evident than in the ability of that new Republican majority to re-define the agenda, raising new issues (Partial Birth Abortion Ban) and challenging seemingly non-controversial, bipartisan, well-established programs (funding for the Title X Family Planning program and international family planning programs). The continued evidence of the gender gap in prochoice support, along with the critical role played by the shrinking cohort of prochoice Republican women in challenging their leadership’s anti-reproductive rights agenda, reinforce the importance of increasing descriptive representation. Nevertheless, the gendered roles assumed by a growing vocal cohort of female Republican reproductive rights opponents, reluctance by some ostensibly prochoice Republican women to challenge their leadership, a shrinking gender gap in prochoice support within Congress, and the frustrations of those who attempted to fight these often futile battles, all highlight the critical role that institutional environments, increased ideological diversity among women, and extra-institutional forces play in shaping the probabilistic relationship between descriptive and substantive representation, in strengthening or weakening perceptions of legitimacy surrounding gender difference, and in defining and redefining the meaning of substantive representation of women and realizing the potential for difference. These case studies explore gender differences in perspectives of reproductive rights opponents, provide insight into the value of bipartisan support for reproductive rights policy agendas (despite Republicans being less prochoice than Democrats), and point to the important role of women voters in maintaining bipartisan support and political resolve.Less
When the 1994 elections gave control of Congress to a conservative, Christian Coalition-dominated, Republican majority, what some had over-optimistically touted as a critical mass of women became a token group, notwithstanding a slight increase in numbers. Nowhere was that more evident than in the ability of that new Republican majority to re-define the agenda, raising new issues (Partial Birth Abortion Ban) and challenging seemingly non-controversial, bipartisan, well-established programs (funding for the Title X Family Planning program and international family planning programs). The continued evidence of the gender gap in prochoice support, along with the critical role played by the shrinking cohort of prochoice Republican women in challenging their leadership’s anti-reproductive rights agenda, reinforce the importance of increasing descriptive representation. Nevertheless, the gendered roles assumed by a growing vocal cohort of female Republican reproductive rights opponents, reluctance by some ostensibly prochoice Republican women to challenge their leadership, a shrinking gender gap in prochoice support within Congress, and the frustrations of those who attempted to fight these often futile battles, all highlight the critical role that institutional environments, increased ideological diversity among women, and extra-institutional forces play in shaping the probabilistic relationship between descriptive and substantive representation, in strengthening or weakening perceptions of legitimacy surrounding gender difference, and in defining and redefining the meaning of substantive representation of women and realizing the potential for difference. These case studies explore gender differences in perspectives of reproductive rights opponents, provide insight into the value of bipartisan support for reproductive rights policy agendas (despite Republicans being less prochoice than Democrats), and point to the important role of women voters in maintaining bipartisan support and political resolve.
Dorothy McBride Stetson
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199242665
- eISBN:
- 9780191600258
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199242666.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Great Britain was the first country to reform its criminal abortion law with the Abortion Act of 1967, a law that was strict in form but liberal in practice. Active anti‐abortion forces sought to ...
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Great Britain was the first country to reform its criminal abortion law with the Abortion Act of 1967, a law that was strict in form but liberal in practice. Active anti‐abortion forces sought to turn back the 1967 reform, putting movement activists in a position to defend the law on the books, and little opportunity to seek greater rights for women with respect to the abortion decisions. With occasional help of women's policy agencies, the women's movement actors were successful in defending legal abortion through the 1990s. The key to their success was the openness of the policy process through private member bills in parliament and commitment of feminist MPs in the Labour party.Less
Great Britain was the first country to reform its criminal abortion law with the Abortion Act of 1967, a law that was strict in form but liberal in practice. Active anti‐abortion forces sought to turn back the 1967 reform, putting movement activists in a position to defend the law on the books, and little opportunity to seek greater rights for women with respect to the abortion decisions. With occasional help of women's policy agencies, the women's movement actors were successful in defending legal abortion through the 1990s. The key to their success was the openness of the policy process through private member bills in parliament and commitment of feminist MPs in the Labour party.
Johanna Schoen
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469621180
- eISBN:
- 9781469623344
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469621180.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Social History
Abortion is—and always has been—an arena for contesting power relations between women and men. When in 1973 the Supreme Court made the procedure legal throughout the United States, it seemed that ...
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Abortion is—and always has been—an arena for contesting power relations between women and men. When in 1973 the Supreme Court made the procedure legal throughout the United States, it seemed that women were at last able to make decisions about their own bodies. In the four decades that followed, however, abortion became ever more politicized and stigmatized. Abortion after Roe chronicles and analyzes what the new legal status and changing political environment have meant for abortion providers and their patients. This book sheds light on the little-studied experience of performing and receiving abortion care from the 1970s—a period of optimism—to the rise of the antiabortion movement and the escalation of antiabortion tactics in the 1980s to the 1990s and beyond, when violent attacks on clinics and abortion providers led to a new articulation of abortion care as moral work. More than four decades after the legalization of abortion, the abortion provider community has powerfully asserted that abortion care is a moral good.Less
Abortion is—and always has been—an arena for contesting power relations between women and men. When in 1973 the Supreme Court made the procedure legal throughout the United States, it seemed that women were at last able to make decisions about their own bodies. In the four decades that followed, however, abortion became ever more politicized and stigmatized. Abortion after Roe chronicles and analyzes what the new legal status and changing political environment have meant for abortion providers and their patients. This book sheds light on the little-studied experience of performing and receiving abortion care from the 1970s—a period of optimism—to the rise of the antiabortion movement and the escalation of antiabortion tactics in the 1980s to the 1990s and beyond, when violent attacks on clinics and abortion providers led to a new articulation of abortion care as moral work. More than four decades after the legalization of abortion, the abortion provider community has powerfully asserted that abortion care is a moral good.
Sherie M. Randolph
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469623917
- eISBN:
- 9781469625119
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469623917.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This chapter examines the ways in which Flo Kennedy brought her legal expertise and political knowledge to the campaign to repeal New York State’s restrictive abortion laws. She served as counsel for ...
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This chapter examines the ways in which Flo Kennedy brought her legal expertise and political knowledge to the campaign to repeal New York State’s restrictive abortion laws. She served as counsel for Abramowicz v. Lefkowitz, the first class-action suit in which women themselves insisted on their right to be heard. Coupling speak-outs and demonstrations with constitutional arguments, the case helped to convince the legislature to amend the law before it was settled in court. The tactics from this case would be used in Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 federal case that legalized abortion nationally. Although by the late 1960s she was one of the country’s best-known black feminists, her role in helping to legalize abortion has long since been forgotten.Less
This chapter examines the ways in which Flo Kennedy brought her legal expertise and political knowledge to the campaign to repeal New York State’s restrictive abortion laws. She served as counsel for Abramowicz v. Lefkowitz, the first class-action suit in which women themselves insisted on their right to be heard. Coupling speak-outs and demonstrations with constitutional arguments, the case helped to convince the legislature to amend the law before it was settled in court. The tactics from this case would be used in Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 federal case that legalized abortion nationally. Although by the late 1960s she was one of the country’s best-known black feminists, her role in helping to legalize abortion has long since been forgotten.
Gerald O'Collins SJ and Mario Farrugia SJ
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199259946
- eISBN:
- 9780191602122
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199259941.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter begins by recalling several developments in Catholic moral teaching and practice (on usury, torture, and slavery), and then examines some distinctive Catholic moral convictions: about ...
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This chapter begins by recalling several developments in Catholic moral teaching and practice (on usury, torture, and slavery), and then examines some distinctive Catholic moral convictions: about respect for life, the sexual order, truth, justice, care for the needy, human dignity, and human rights. The chapter ends by proposing two fundamental principles for forming one’s moral conscience: the following of Christ and docility to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.Less
This chapter begins by recalling several developments in Catholic moral teaching and practice (on usury, torture, and slavery), and then examines some distinctive Catholic moral convictions: about respect for life, the sexual order, truth, justice, care for the needy, human dignity, and human rights. The chapter ends by proposing two fundamental principles for forming one’s moral conscience: the following of Christ and docility to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Penelope Deutscher
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780231176415
- eISBN:
- 9780231544559
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231176415.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy
In Foucault's Futures, Penelope Deutscher reconsiders the role of procreation in Foucault's thought, especially its proximity to risk, mortality, and death. She brings together his work on sexuality ...
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In Foucault's Futures, Penelope Deutscher reconsiders the role of procreation in Foucault's thought, especially its proximity to risk, mortality, and death. She brings together his work on sexuality and biopolitics to challenge our understanding of the politicization of reproduction. By analyzing Foucault's contribution to the politics of maternity and its influence on the work of thinkers such as Roberto Esposito, Giorgio Agamben, and Judith Butler, Deutscher provides new insights into the conflicted political status of reproductive conduct and what it means for feminism and critical theory.Less
In Foucault's Futures, Penelope Deutscher reconsiders the role of procreation in Foucault's thought, especially its proximity to risk, mortality, and death. She brings together his work on sexuality and biopolitics to challenge our understanding of the politicization of reproduction. By analyzing Foucault's contribution to the politics of maternity and its influence on the work of thinkers such as Roberto Esposito, Giorgio Agamben, and Judith Butler, Deutscher provides new insights into the conflicted political status of reproductive conduct and what it means for feminism and critical theory.
Sherry F. Colb and Michael C. Dorf
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231175142
- eISBN:
- 9780231540957
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231175142.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
How can someone who condemns hunting, animal farming, and animal experimentation also favor legal abortion, which is the deliberate destruction of a human fetus? The authors of Beating Hearts aim to ...
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How can someone who condemns hunting, animal farming, and animal experimentation also favor legal abortion, which is the deliberate destruction of a human fetus? The authors of Beating Hearts aim to reconcile this apparent conflict and examine the surprisingly similar strategic and tactical questions faced by activists in the pro-life and animal rights movements. Beating Hearts maintains that sentience, or the ability to have subjective experiences, grounds a being’s entitlement to moral concern. The authors argue that nearly all human exploitation of animals is unjustified. Early abortions do not contradict the sentience principle because they precede fetal sentience, and Beating Hearts explains why the mere potential for sentience does not create moral entitlements. Late abortions do raise serious moral questions, but forcing a woman to carry a child to term is problematic as a form of gender-based exploitation. These ethical explorations lead to a wider discussion of the strategies deployed by the pro-life and animal rights movements. Should legal reforms precede or follow attitudinal changes? Do gory images win over or alienate supporters? Is violence ever principled? By probing the connections between debates about abortion and animal rights, Beating Hearts uses each highly contested set of questions to shed light on the other.Less
How can someone who condemns hunting, animal farming, and animal experimentation also favor legal abortion, which is the deliberate destruction of a human fetus? The authors of Beating Hearts aim to reconcile this apparent conflict and examine the surprisingly similar strategic and tactical questions faced by activists in the pro-life and animal rights movements. Beating Hearts maintains that sentience, or the ability to have subjective experiences, grounds a being’s entitlement to moral concern. The authors argue that nearly all human exploitation of animals is unjustified. Early abortions do not contradict the sentience principle because they precede fetal sentience, and Beating Hearts explains why the mere potential for sentience does not create moral entitlements. Late abortions do raise serious moral questions, but forcing a woman to carry a child to term is problematic as a form of gender-based exploitation. These ethical explorations lead to a wider discussion of the strategies deployed by the pro-life and animal rights movements. Should legal reforms precede or follow attitudinal changes? Do gory images win over or alienate supporters? Is violence ever principled? By probing the connections between debates about abortion and animal rights, Beating Hearts uses each highly contested set of questions to shed light on the other.
Johanna Schoen
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469621180
- eISBN:
- 9781469623344
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469621180.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Social History
This chapter discusses how the development of vacuum aspiration and the Roe v. Wade decision led to the establishment of freestanding abortion clinics. Abortion clinics followed one of two models: ...
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This chapter discusses how the development of vacuum aspiration and the Roe v. Wade decision led to the establishment of freestanding abortion clinics. Abortion clinics followed one of two models: (1) a medical model in which physicians emphasized the delivery of high quality medical services, contrasting their clinics with the back-alley abortion services that had sent many women to hospital emergency rooms prior to legalization, or (2) a feminist model in which clinics emphasized education and the dissemination of information to empower women patients and change the structure of women’s health care. Male physicians and feminists came together in the newly established abortion services and argued over the priorities and characteristics of health care delivery. A broad range of clinics emerged, from feminist clinics to medical offices run by traditional male physicians to for-profit clinics.Less
This chapter discusses how the development of vacuum aspiration and the Roe v. Wade decision led to the establishment of freestanding abortion clinics. Abortion clinics followed one of two models: (1) a medical model in which physicians emphasized the delivery of high quality medical services, contrasting their clinics with the back-alley abortion services that had sent many women to hospital emergency rooms prior to legalization, or (2) a feminist model in which clinics emphasized education and the dissemination of information to empower women patients and change the structure of women’s health care. Male physicians and feminists came together in the newly established abortion services and argued over the priorities and characteristics of health care delivery. A broad range of clinics emerged, from feminist clinics to medical offices run by traditional male physicians to for-profit clinics.
Johanna Schoen
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469621180
- eISBN:
- 9781469623344
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469621180.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Social History
By the early 1980s, abortion providers moved from instillation procedures such as saline to Dilation and Evacuation [D&E]. This chapter traces the initial controversy surrounding D&E and the eventual ...
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By the early 1980s, abortion providers moved from instillation procedures such as saline to Dilation and Evacuation [D&E]. This chapter traces the initial controversy surrounding D&E and the eventual adoption of the procedure which made abortion services after the first trimester available on an outpatient basis and the experience of midtrimester abortion easier for patients. But the turn to D&E raised ethical and aesthetic concerns and abortion providers who sought to discuss their thoughts about their work quickly found their words used against them. By the mid-1980s, anti-abortion activists created abortion narratives that painted abortion providers as murderers, highlighted women’s regret over abortion, and offered gory descriptions of the abortion experience from the fetal perspective. These anti-abortion narratives silenced discussions within the abortion provider community and limited women’s ability to discuss their abortion experiences as positive. It stigmatized the procedure and those who participated in it.Less
By the early 1980s, abortion providers moved from instillation procedures such as saline to Dilation and Evacuation [D&E]. This chapter traces the initial controversy surrounding D&E and the eventual adoption of the procedure which made abortion services after the first trimester available on an outpatient basis and the experience of midtrimester abortion easier for patients. But the turn to D&E raised ethical and aesthetic concerns and abortion providers who sought to discuss their thoughts about their work quickly found their words used against them. By the mid-1980s, anti-abortion activists created abortion narratives that painted abortion providers as murderers, highlighted women’s regret over abortion, and offered gory descriptions of the abortion experience from the fetal perspective. These anti-abortion narratives silenced discussions within the abortion provider community and limited women’s ability to discuss their abortion experiences as positive. It stigmatized the procedure and those who participated in it.
Johanna Schoen
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469621180
- eISBN:
- 9781469623344
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469621180.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Social History
The epilogue offers a brief overview of the history of legal abortion from the early 1970s to the 2000s. If patients and abortion providers could discuss their experience with abortion in positive ...
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The epilogue offers a brief overview of the history of legal abortion from the early 1970s to the 2000s. If patients and abortion providers could discuss their experience with abortion in positive terms in the 1970s, by the 1980s anti-abortion activism had stigmatized abortion. The fetus had been redefined as a baby and abortion as murder. Patients and abortion providers lost the space to talk in positive terms about their abortion experience. Despite the stigma attached to abortion care, however, abortion providers continued to argue that providing abortion services was moral and patients asserted their right to choose abortion and articulated their sense of relief.Less
The epilogue offers a brief overview of the history of legal abortion from the early 1970s to the 2000s. If patients and abortion providers could discuss their experience with abortion in positive terms in the 1970s, by the 1980s anti-abortion activism had stigmatized abortion. The fetus had been redefined as a baby and abortion as murder. Patients and abortion providers lost the space to talk in positive terms about their abortion experience. Despite the stigma attached to abortion care, however, abortion providers continued to argue that providing abortion services was moral and patients asserted their right to choose abortion and articulated their sense of relief.
Ruth Fletcher
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780719099465
- eISBN:
- 9781526104410
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719099465.003.0003
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
This chapter argues that debates about conscientious objection in health care would benefit from distinguishing clearly between two distinct sets of issues 1) who qualifies for conscientious ...
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This chapter argues that debates about conscientious objection in health care would benefit from distinguishing clearly between two distinct sets of issues 1) who qualifies for conscientious objection and 2) how conscientious objection ought to be limited in order to prevent harm to others. It argues that institutions (e.g. hospitals) and indirect participants (e.g. pregnancy counselors) ought not qualify for conscientious objection but for different reasons. Institutions ought not qualify because they do not have the kind of critical moral consciousness which is necessary to ground a right to conscientious objection. Indirect participants ought not qualify for two reasons: first, denying someone pre or post abortion care is harmful in discriminating against receivers of lawful abortion care and is more than is necessary for the protection of objectors’ moral integrity and secondly, information about pregnancy and abortion care will not necessarily lead to an abortion and after care cannot prevent abortion. In this way the chapter proposes that Irish debates about conscientious objection in a healthcare context need to move beyond a consideration of the powers of religiously run hospitals and towards a rights based method of assessing conscientious objection in light of the need to recognise moral integrity and prevent harm.Less
This chapter argues that debates about conscientious objection in health care would benefit from distinguishing clearly between two distinct sets of issues 1) who qualifies for conscientious objection and 2) how conscientious objection ought to be limited in order to prevent harm to others. It argues that institutions (e.g. hospitals) and indirect participants (e.g. pregnancy counselors) ought not qualify for conscientious objection but for different reasons. Institutions ought not qualify because they do not have the kind of critical moral consciousness which is necessary to ground a right to conscientious objection. Indirect participants ought not qualify for two reasons: first, denying someone pre or post abortion care is harmful in discriminating against receivers of lawful abortion care and is more than is necessary for the protection of objectors’ moral integrity and secondly, information about pregnancy and abortion care will not necessarily lead to an abortion and after care cannot prevent abortion. In this way the chapter proposes that Irish debates about conscientious objection in a healthcare context need to move beyond a consideration of the powers of religiously run hospitals and towards a rights based method of assessing conscientious objection in light of the need to recognise moral integrity and prevent harm.
Gary Murphy
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780719097652
- eISBN:
- 9781526109712
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719097652.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, European Union
The aim of this book is to assess the quarter century of political competition in the Republic of Ireland from the time of the ending of recession of the 1980s up to the 2011 general election where ...
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The aim of this book is to assess the quarter century of political competition in the Republic of Ireland from the time of the ending of recession of the 1980s up to the 2011 general election where Ireland was ruled by the Troika and austerity was a by-word for both policy making and how many people lived their lives. This book assesses in a thematic way the forces which shaped the decisions that political elites in Ireland took over the course of this crucial quarter century in modern Irish life. It examines the nature of electoral competition in modern Ireland by focusing on a number of key themes that shaped the decisions of Irish politicians. These include the nature of coalition politics in Ireland; the payments to politicians by developers and businessmen that led to a number of tribunals of inquiry; the culture wars over divorce and abortion; the process of the economic collapse to boom and back to collapse cycle that effected the lives of so many Irish people; and the collapse of Ireland's natural party of government, Fianna Fáil. It analyses why Irish citizens have been comfortable in continuing to vote for traditional political elites despite the failures of the Irish state and explains why it has been so difficult for new parties to emerge.Less
The aim of this book is to assess the quarter century of political competition in the Republic of Ireland from the time of the ending of recession of the 1980s up to the 2011 general election where Ireland was ruled by the Troika and austerity was a by-word for both policy making and how many people lived their lives. This book assesses in a thematic way the forces which shaped the decisions that political elites in Ireland took over the course of this crucial quarter century in modern Irish life. It examines the nature of electoral competition in modern Ireland by focusing on a number of key themes that shaped the decisions of Irish politicians. These include the nature of coalition politics in Ireland; the payments to politicians by developers and businessmen that led to a number of tribunals of inquiry; the culture wars over divorce and abortion; the process of the economic collapse to boom and back to collapse cycle that effected the lives of so many Irish people; and the collapse of Ireland's natural party of government, Fianna Fáil. It analyses why Irish citizens have been comfortable in continuing to vote for traditional political elites despite the failures of the Irish state and explains why it has been so difficult for new parties to emerge.
John Keown
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199589555
- eISBN:
- 9780191741036
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199589555.003.0007
- Subject:
- Law, Medical Law
This chapter considers the scope of the crime of child destruction, contrary to section 1 of the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929. The section punishes the destruction of a child “capable of being ...
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This chapter considers the scope of the crime of child destruction, contrary to section 1 of the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929. The section punishes the destruction of a child “capable of being born alive”. The chapter considers three competing interpretations of this phrase. The first would protect any unborn child which would be capable after birth of exhibiting any sign of life. The second would protect only viable unborn children. The third would limit protection to the child in the process of delivery. Drawing on the parliamentary debates and contemporary Home Office materials, the chapter suggests that the middle interpretation is the most plausible. It concludes by raising the question, in the light of the relaxation of the law by the Abortion Act 1967 and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, whether the law, by attaching moral significance to viability and birth, is ethically defensible.Less
This chapter considers the scope of the crime of child destruction, contrary to section 1 of the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929. The section punishes the destruction of a child “capable of being born alive”. The chapter considers three competing interpretations of this phrase. The first would protect any unborn child which would be capable after birth of exhibiting any sign of life. The second would protect only viable unborn children. The third would limit protection to the child in the process of delivery. Drawing on the parliamentary debates and contemporary Home Office materials, the chapter suggests that the middle interpretation is the most plausible. It concludes by raising the question, in the light of the relaxation of the law by the Abortion Act 1967 and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, whether the law, by attaching moral significance to viability and birth, is ethically defensible.
Johanna Schoen
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469621180
- eISBN:
- 9781469623344
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469621180.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Social History
In 1975, Kenneth Edelin, an African American obstetrician-gynecologist at Boston City Hospital, was indicted for manslaughter for performing a legal abortion. The chapter explores the emerging ...
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In 1975, Kenneth Edelin, an African American obstetrician-gynecologist at Boston City Hospital, was indicted for manslaughter for performing a legal abortion. The chapter explores the emerging debates about the meaning of abortion, the fetus, and viability. Charges that BCH was conducting fetal research lay behind the indictment of Edelin and complicated the performance of abortion procedures. Abortion politics shaped the discussion and formulation of policies governing questions of viability and bioethics considerations of fetal research. By the late 1970s, abortion providers feared indictments for manslaughter if a fetus delivered as a result of abortion still showed signs of life. The live-born fetus had emerged as a complication of abortion.Less
In 1975, Kenneth Edelin, an African American obstetrician-gynecologist at Boston City Hospital, was indicted for manslaughter for performing a legal abortion. The chapter explores the emerging debates about the meaning of abortion, the fetus, and viability. Charges that BCH was conducting fetal research lay behind the indictment of Edelin and complicated the performance of abortion procedures. Abortion politics shaped the discussion and formulation of policies governing questions of viability and bioethics considerations of fetal research. By the late 1970s, abortion providers feared indictments for manslaughter if a fetus delivered as a result of abortion still showed signs of life. The live-born fetus had emerged as a complication of abortion.
Johanna Schoen
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469621180
- eISBN:
- 9781469623344
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469621180.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Social History
In 1976, abortion providers came together to establish the National Abortion Federation. NAF members came from a broad range of different backgrounds. Now they gathered to negotiate the goals and ...
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In 1976, abortion providers came together to establish the National Abortion Federation. NAF members came from a broad range of different backgrounds. Now they gathered to negotiate the goals and directions of the new organization and formulate a set of standards for abortion care. Chapter four analyzes these negotiations. While clinics following the medical model placed high priority on professionalism, feminist clinics argued that professionalism established hierarchies between abortion providers and patients and sought to provide services with lay personnel instead. A 1978 expose on substandard abortion clinics in Chicago drew attention to the need for clinic regulations and their enforcement and prompted NAF to establish regular inspections of member clinics. While the tensions between professional medical services and feminist clinics remained, NAF members agreed on a set of principles to guide abortion care.Less
In 1976, abortion providers came together to establish the National Abortion Federation. NAF members came from a broad range of different backgrounds. Now they gathered to negotiate the goals and directions of the new organization and formulate a set of standards for abortion care. Chapter four analyzes these negotiations. While clinics following the medical model placed high priority on professionalism, feminist clinics argued that professionalism established hierarchies between abortion providers and patients and sought to provide services with lay personnel instead. A 1978 expose on substandard abortion clinics in Chicago drew attention to the need for clinic regulations and their enforcement and prompted NAF to establish regular inspections of member clinics. While the tensions between professional medical services and feminist clinics remained, NAF members agreed on a set of principles to guide abortion care.
Johanna Schoen
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469621180
- eISBN:
- 9781469623344
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469621180.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Social History
The escalation of anti-abortion violence and killing of abortion providers and clinic staff in the early 1990s raised tensions within the abortion provider community. Frustrated with what they ...
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The escalation of anti-abortion violence and killing of abortion providers and clinic staff in the early 1990s raised tensions within the abortion provider community. Frustrated with what they perceived as inadequate support, NAF members began to leave the organization and established the November Gang and the National Coalition of Abortion Providers. Much smaller than NAF and made up of mostly independent clinics, both the November Gang and NCAP encouraged more open conversations about the difficult questions in abortion care such as the role of violence and fetal death. Members of the November Gang also introduced head and heart counselling to offer women greater support as they dealt with the increasing stigmatization of abortion. The development of intact D&E and debate of the so-called partial birth abortion ban further increased tensions in the abortion provider community as abortion providers and their supporters disagreed over whether and how to defend intact D&E procedures. When the US Supreme Court decision upheld the ban of intact D&E in its decision Gonzales v. Carhart, anti-abortion activists had, for the first time, successfully banned an abortion procedure. Despite these developments, patients continued to affirm their right to choose abortion.Less
The escalation of anti-abortion violence and killing of abortion providers and clinic staff in the early 1990s raised tensions within the abortion provider community. Frustrated with what they perceived as inadequate support, NAF members began to leave the organization and established the November Gang and the National Coalition of Abortion Providers. Much smaller than NAF and made up of mostly independent clinics, both the November Gang and NCAP encouraged more open conversations about the difficult questions in abortion care such as the role of violence and fetal death. Members of the November Gang also introduced head and heart counselling to offer women greater support as they dealt with the increasing stigmatization of abortion. The development of intact D&E and debate of the so-called partial birth abortion ban further increased tensions in the abortion provider community as abortion providers and their supporters disagreed over whether and how to defend intact D&E procedures. When the US Supreme Court decision upheld the ban of intact D&E in its decision Gonzales v. Carhart, anti-abortion activists had, for the first time, successfully banned an abortion procedure. Despite these developments, patients continued to affirm their right to choose abortion.
Johanna Schoen
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469621180
- eISBN:
- 9781469623344
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469621180.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, Social History
The introduction briefly chronicles women’s reproductive experiences prior to the legalization of abortion and situates the legalization of abortion into the context of the emerging women’s health ...
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The introduction briefly chronicles women’s reproductive experiences prior to the legalization of abortion and situates the legalization of abortion into the context of the emerging women’s health movement. It offers a brief overview of the state-by-state legalization of abortion and of the US Supreme Court decisions that followed the 1973 Roe v Wade decision. It concludes with a discussion of the challenges of writing the history of a medical procedure as stigmatized and politicized as legal abortion.Less
The introduction briefly chronicles women’s reproductive experiences prior to the legalization of abortion and situates the legalization of abortion into the context of the emerging women’s health movement. It offers a brief overview of the state-by-state legalization of abortion and of the US Supreme Court decisions that followed the 1973 Roe v Wade decision. It concludes with a discussion of the challenges of writing the history of a medical procedure as stigmatized and politicized as legal abortion.
Karissa Haugeberg
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252040962
- eISBN:
- 9780252099717
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040962.003.0003
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Movements and Social Change
This chapter traces how crisis pregnancy center volunteers popularized medically inaccurate information about the health risks of abortion beginning in the 1970s. Anonymous tracts purportedly written ...
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This chapter traces how crisis pregnancy center volunteers popularized medically inaccurate information about the health risks of abortion beginning in the 1970s. Anonymous tracts purportedly written by women who had abortions and regretted them circulated in prolife circles. By the 1980s, women who called themselves “abortion survivors” traveled the nation, speaking to church and prolife groups about their regret over having had abortions. Prolife physicians legitimized these anecdotes by writing articles that falsely claimed that abortion caused breast cancer and psychological trauma. By the twenty-first century, prolife physicians and women “abortion survivors” had convinced jurists—incorrectly—that the medical community was divided over the question of whether abortion harmed women. This constructed debate framed the Supreme Court’s 2003 majority opinion in Gonzales v. CarhartLess
This chapter traces how crisis pregnancy center volunteers popularized medically inaccurate information about the health risks of abortion beginning in the 1970s. Anonymous tracts purportedly written by women who had abortions and regretted them circulated in prolife circles. By the 1980s, women who called themselves “abortion survivors” traveled the nation, speaking to church and prolife groups about their regret over having had abortions. Prolife physicians legitimized these anecdotes by writing articles that falsely claimed that abortion caused breast cancer and psychological trauma. By the twenty-first century, prolife physicians and women “abortion survivors” had convinced jurists—incorrectly—that the medical community was divided over the question of whether abortion harmed women. This constructed debate framed the Supreme Court’s 2003 majority opinion in Gonzales v. Carhart
Frederick V. Slocum
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780813036847
- eISBN:
- 9780813043999
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813036847.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter provides an in-depth examination of how religion has acted as an extremely conservative device in the South, helping push the region from fealty to the Democratic Party to the GOP. It ...
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This chapter provides an in-depth examination of how religion has acted as an extremely conservative device in the South, helping push the region from fealty to the Democratic Party to the GOP. It addresses such hot-button issues as school prayer, public religious displays like the Ten Commandments, gay and lesbian rights, war, honor, terror, abortion, traditional and family values, “cultural defense,” and the conservative takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention. The chapter argues for southern distinctiveness. And it catalogues the roles of important Religious Right groups such as Focus on the Family, the Christian Coalition, the Moral Majority, Coral Ridge Ministries, and of individuals such as George W. Bush, Newt Gingrich, Tom DeLay, Strom Thurmond, and Jesse Helms.Less
This chapter provides an in-depth examination of how religion has acted as an extremely conservative device in the South, helping push the region from fealty to the Democratic Party to the GOP. It addresses such hot-button issues as school prayer, public religious displays like the Ten Commandments, gay and lesbian rights, war, honor, terror, abortion, traditional and family values, “cultural defense,” and the conservative takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention. The chapter argues for southern distinctiveness. And it catalogues the roles of important Religious Right groups such as Focus on the Family, the Christian Coalition, the Moral Majority, Coral Ridge Ministries, and of individuals such as George W. Bush, Newt Gingrich, Tom DeLay, Strom Thurmond, and Jesse Helms.
Susanne M. Klausen
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199844494
- eISBN:
- 9780190258122
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199844494.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
This chapter analyzes the legislative process that culminated in the passage of South Africa’s first statutory law on abortion, The Abortion and Sterilization Act (1975). It shows that by the early ...
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This chapter analyzes the legislative process that culminated in the passage of South Africa’s first statutory law on abortion, The Abortion and Sterilization Act (1975). It shows that by the early 1970s, the National Party could no longer withstand calls to amend the abortion law: members of the judiciary and the medical and legal professions, ARAG, and the Commission of Inquiry into the Mental Disorders Act were demanding law reform. The regime considered calls for a new abortion law a symptom of “permissiveness,” the moral disease infecting white South Africa, and initially ignored them. But the outcome of prosecutions of medical abortionists, especially the acquittal in 1971 of Dr. Laurence van Druten who helped a teenager pregnant from rape, brought the law’s authority into doubt. The government had to act and finally tabled draft legislation that was subsequently sent to a Select Committee and a Commission of Inquiry for review and amendment.Less
This chapter analyzes the legislative process that culminated in the passage of South Africa’s first statutory law on abortion, The Abortion and Sterilization Act (1975). It shows that by the early 1970s, the National Party could no longer withstand calls to amend the abortion law: members of the judiciary and the medical and legal professions, ARAG, and the Commission of Inquiry into the Mental Disorders Act were demanding law reform. The regime considered calls for a new abortion law a symptom of “permissiveness,” the moral disease infecting white South Africa, and initially ignored them. But the outcome of prosecutions of medical abortionists, especially the acquittal in 1971 of Dr. Laurence van Druten who helped a teenager pregnant from rape, brought the law’s authority into doubt. The government had to act and finally tabled draft legislation that was subsequently sent to a Select Committee and a Commission of Inquiry for review and amendment.
